WIS, WWA | not gonna sleep tonight
What I Spent
I'm about to have an all-nighter, and yes, I am being a fussy little baby about it. 😉 More on that below.
This week I spent:
- $85 at Aldi
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
- $7 at Safeway
Sooo, $122 this week.
What We Ate
Saturday
Zoe was out with a friend for dinner, and I ate a salad, some sauteed carrots, and a chorizo sausage.
Sunday
Chicken tikka masala on mini naan from Aldi, with sliced cucumbers on the side.
Monday
This was one of my worst prednisone exhaustion days, and Zoe was at work until pretty late, so we had a very unofficial dinner; I think she mainly ate leftover cinnamon rolls, and I ate toast, cottage cheese, and strawberries.
Girl dinner? 😉
(Every night is girl dinner at our house, honestly. Even our cats are both girls!)
Tuesday
Rotisserie chicken with some raw fruits and veggies on the side.
Wednesday
I made a pasta dish, in I'm-winging-it style.
I browned onions and tomato halves, added some rotisserie chicken, mixed in milk and red pesto, scraped up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan, added penne pasta, and sprinkled it with the last of the Parmesan left from my crab/bread birthday freebie.
Thursday
Burgers, with some fruit on the side.
Friday
I have an overnight training shift tonight (!!!!!) which I am not looking forward to in the slightest. So, I guess I will eat an early dinner before I head to the hospital, but I haven't decided what yet.
Luckily after this, I shouldn't have any more night shifts unless I want them.
(And we know I will not be wanting them. 😉 I like to be in my bed at night, and I do not even care that you get paid more to work overnight.)
Yeah, that's a hard NO on anything overnight from me, too. Yuck. Good luck!
Saturday: Bull enchilada casserole, leftover coleslaw, fresh bread with homemade aprico jam. I did not foresee still eating this bull now when we butchered it FOUR YEARS AGO, but I guess we get points for persistence?
Sunday: Homemade Big Macs made with ground bull, a copycat sauce, and the sourdough buns I had made the day before. My husband loves these, and it was Father's Day. Also home fries--too hot to keep the oven on for actual oven fries--green salad with vinaigrette, and chocolate pudding with cream
Monday: Leftovers and ice cream with a choice of apricot puree, maple syrup, or chocolate syrup. My husband is a fruit with ice cream kind of guy, and I am a chocolate syrup or cookie pieces with ice cream kind of girl. My kids can go either way, depending on their mood.
Tuesday: We weren't quite done with the elk, either, apparently. I found a bag of elk chorizo at the bottom of one of the chest freezers, so I cooked that and made breakfast burritos for dinner. We had more ice cream, too. I have given up on having a dessert only on Sundays anymore. My kids need more calories, anyway.
Wednesday: This seemed to be the week of Forgotten Meats. This night it was a boned leg roast I found from the ewe we butchered in October. I made curry with it, because it was unusually strong-tasting.
Thursday: I have had a whole chicken in the freezer for a few months, and it was cool enough to roast it without wanted to crawl into the freezer to cool off, so I did that. (The roasting, not the freezer.) I made gravy with the juices, too. And then there was garlic bread, roasted carrots, sauerkraut, and more ice cream.
Tonight: Last cool day, so I'm going to take advantage by cooking a pork butt and baked rice pudding. More sauerkraut with the pork, because I am in cabbage-processing season and thus have a lot of sauerkraut on hand that I haven't canned yet. More ice cream? I'm guessing yes. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, Yes, you absolutely get persistence points!
@Ruth T, And ingenuity points galore!
@kristin @ going country,
Does bull meat differ in taste or texture from beef?
@Bee, This bull couldn't be aged properly after killing because it had a broken leg and had to be butchered immediately in the pasture, so it's much tougher than our usual beef. It doesn't taste much different, it just needs to be tenderized, which is why grinding it is the best option. For the meat that I pressure-cooked, I have to break it down further in my food processor to make it at all chewable.
@kristin @ going country,
I always look forward to your WIS, WWA comments. You always find interesting ways to use what you have....that bull meat, who knew it would last 4 years?
And part of me wishes I was like your kids and *need* more calories....dessert every night, yum! 🙂
@Liz B., I wish I needed ice cream, too. Alas for the days of youth, I guess.
@kristin @ going country, like your concept of “forgotten meals”. We used to have elk several years ago when my father-in-law had hunted some - best meat I’ve had in a long time! Do you process your own?
Kristen, best of luck on the overnight shift. You got this! As a morning person, I am absolutely useless after 9pm. I agree, the extra/differential pay isn't worth it!
It's been so hot this week, that I haven't wanted to cook much. It's a good thing that 1-my family likes salads and 2-the lettuce is our garden is plentiful.
1. Taco salad (using the packet of vegan meat crumbles I could microwave)
2. Turkey wraps/Meatball wraps + broccoli salad
3. Air fryer zucchini, pasta + marinara
4. Chef salad with toast + hummus
5. Lettuce wrap burgers + salad
6. A leftovers night
7. The rotisserie chicken is looking like a great idea for tonight. I'll probably pick one of those up and serve it over... surprise salad.
Good luck on the overnight shift! I would not enjoy that either!
Saturday: Spinach and cream cheese pasta
Sunday: Veggie stir-fry
Monday: Takeout
Tuesday: Veggie chilli
Wednesday: Leftovers with pitta bread
Thursday: Pizza with pitta
Friday: I think I'm going to go for a mushroom omelette with a sweet potato
I worked overnights in a nursing home while in college. I loved it! Except for full moon nights (yes, this is a real thing), the work was quiet and easy and I got a lot of studying in between rounds. I stayed on nights even after I graduated and got married but then we moved to a neighborhood where day sleeping was impossible. Getting enough sleep is really the hardest part of night work. You may discover you like it. Or not 😉
@Bobi, its a very niche shift, right? Some people seem to thrive in it and stay on overnights for years. I once did it for a week and felt like a werewolf by Day 5...
I don't know how people do it. I haven't even done one overnight and I already know it's not for me. Ha.
@Bobi, I've found in the nursing home that the issues w full moon often happen a couple of nights before and then the residents sleep on the full moon night. And strangely enough, the people w dementia are often clear as a bell that night.
@Chrissy, you really have to experience the phenomenon to believe it. Definitely strange happenings!
@Bobi, or, be a special education teacher. We could always tell a full moon.
First, here's my entry in today's Chiquita Caption Contest: "Hah! I bet you humans can't clean YOUR toes this way!"
And, second, I'd turn thumbs down on night duty too. All my mental lights are usually out by 8:30 pm.
Now, WIS: $21.25 at the Regional Market, $17.50 at the grocery outlet, and $33.50 (after $13.20 in container returns) at Wegmans.
WIA: Nothing fancy, since it's simply been too hot here to cook this week. (I didn't get around to noting for Thankful Thursday yesterday that, like everyone else in the heat zone with AC, I'm thankful for Willis Carrier's excellent invention--and I feel for those without it.)
I am, however, planning to make another stir-fry tonight with Reduced for Quick Sale boneless pork from Wegmans, snow peas from the Regional Market, and selected weeds from the garden. In particular, the pigweed is about to take over the zinnias--so "if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em!"
Chiquita! That picture brightened my overcast day like magic. And I'm a dog person...
WIS: $27.97 at Sprouts and $54.26 yesterday morning at the little Neighborhood Walmart, where I passed on the ground beef (what’s with these prices? up more than a buck a pound overnight) but found some lovely enormous chicken breasts (a package of 3 weighing 2.4 pounds) marked down to $3/pound. So I am trying out Kristen’s Brinerade because her chicken looked so delicious. Mine’s been marinating overnight in the refrigerator and I’ll cook it this afternoon.
WIA: Top boneless sirloin with sauteed onions, asparagus and roasted smashed potatoes (2X); beef tacos; chicken lettuce wraps; spinach, mushroom and feta cheese omelet (breakfast for dinner); baked fish with sauteed summer squash, zucchini and onions (2X).
@JDinNM, The sirloin was 35% off at Sprouts making it cheaper per pound than the ground chuck at Walmart. And much tastier.... And the chicken breasts were half the price per pound than the ground chuck. Grocery shopping is starting to feel like a game show.
Good luck with the night duty! When I was a student we worked a month of nights in med-surg during our third year, and a number of nights during our midwifery semester. Then the clinic where I worked for 12 years had a 3 months night duty/ year policy. I don't miss it at all!
Good luck on your first night shift! Pack an extra sweater and more food that you think you'll need 🙂
I was away a lot this week, very unusual.
Monday: I made hard boiled eggs, sliced veggies, and bread. Simple simple.
Tuesday: I was out at our resident social, but made and ate macaroni and cheese with sliced raw vegetables with the toddler before I left. The social was at Medieval Times (verdict: the food lives up to its reputation; the show was fun but not something I'd pay for myself.)
Wednesday: I was on call and I ate so much at lunch that I just had yogurt, granola, and fruit.
Thursday: I was out at our departmental dinner (which did not agree with me, oof) and I had quinoa salad, a "cauliflower steak," and apple tart. I am very over the vegetarian option being a giant cruciferous vegetable.
Friday: Mr. B will make something.
See, this is how I know I wasn't meant to be a nurse...any overnight shifts would do me in. I get a headache if I get less than six hours of sleep. Even Clark getting me up at 6 am is nearly a bridge too far.
I did better on spending this week! I've been taking our learning driver with me, so he can get some driving practice, and then give him half the list and meet up at the checkout and he bags for me.
$352 at Kroger. As I said, better than last week, I've been working on sticking. to. my. list. But as DH says when I sheepishly mention what I spent, "we have to eat," and so we do.
Saturday/Sunday: homemade pizzas, and on Sunday, homemade mulberry pie for Father's Day. Always a hit.
Monday: Burgers, leftover pizza stuff, chips.
Tuesday: Everyone wanted chicken shawarma, but I didn't want to run the oven in the afternoon (stupidly hot heat wave this week). So I gambled that the 8-9 pounds of chicken that feeds our crew would cook in the crockpot. It did! I had to drain a bunch of liquid afterward, but still less work than using four baking pans and then crisping it up. So it was more "Shawarma Style Chicken" than authentic shawarma. This time I was smart and marinated the thighs for 12 hours, and that has made all the difference.
Wednesday: Hamburger stew; happily, we had just enough cooked beef/hamburgers left over from Monday and the weekend so we didn't have to cook any more beef, and I chucked it all in the crockpot when I got home from the grocery store.
Thursday: Taco night, always a treat after cleaning at the cat shelter. I am so happy that with patience I've tamed a formerly hissy little calico, and I do hope she gets adopted soon, as she clearly loves people now. If we had room for another cat, and if Clark actually LIKED other cats, I'd so want to adopt her. (If anyone is in or near the Miami Valley area of Ohio and inclined to adopt a sweet little calico with gorgeous markings, who loves to be petted and brushed, tell Kristen to give you my email!)
Friday: DS#2 said he'd bake some salmon filets this morning, and we'll have those with watermelon and chips, I think. Unless sweet corn looks good, but it's pretty early in the season for good sweet corn.
Sat - (Crockpot) Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs along with rice, broccoli and salad
Sun - The kids fixed their dad (my husband) Chicken Parmesan, Pasta and Salad
Mon - Leftover chicken parm
Tues - We had a luncheon at work (more pasta!) - brought leftovers home for dinner. Ugh, no.more.pasta for a while.
Wed - Pork Tenderloin Sheet Pan w/potatoes, carrots and green beans
Thurs - Leftover Honey Garlic Chicken & rice
Tonight - My sister and niece are coming for an overnight but I'm just ordering Salad and Pizza.
My menu plan (I didn't realize how boring I was until I typed this out):
SUN - Steak on the grill, salad (salad greens, cucumber, tomato, feta cheese, dressing), frozen corn
MON - Leftover couscous salad (couscous, shrimp, zucchini, garlic scapes, green onions), salad (see above)
TUE - Leftover couscous salad, salad
WED - Chicken sandwich (cooked chicken breast, grilled pineapple ring, bbq sauce), salad
THUR - Chicken sandwich (same as above), salad
FRI - Partner wants pizza from his favorite pizza place as his birthday dinner, I don't yet know what I'm going to eat. I could get a small pizza from there or I could pick on Panera on the way to get his pizza.
SAT - I'm working a booth for an organization I volunteer for so I'm not going to want to do much and may end up eating another Chicken sandwich and salad.
Good luck with that night shift! There are pluses and minuses to being a teacher, but I am grateful that overnight shifts aren't part of my profession.
Sunday: We ate with extended family for Father's day, we brought an ice cream sandwich cake that was a hit. Super easy, too!
Monday: Slow cooker carnitas with mango slaw for tacos, we had neighbors over for ice cream afterwards.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, she chose mac and cheese. My husband and I mixed in some leftover carnitas, it was good!
Wednesday: We had a big lunch at our favorite Puerto Rican restaurant (they're moving out of state, boo!), so we weren't hungry come dinner time. Our daughter had a go gurt and a few crackers, my husband and I didn't eat anything.
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: I'm volunteering at an event for World Refugee Day, and we'll be hitting up the food trucks after my shift. Can you tell good food is something we're willing to spend money on?
Saturday: We'll be at a one year old birthday party, I think it's a BBQ.
Have a great weekend everyone!
I find that the pay differential is more appealing to people in their 20s and 30s. That is good, because they are young enough to recuperate better. 🙂
@Kris, Indeed! Our 19 year old did a lot of "night shifts" when his older brother was in the hospital, he basically spent nights there with him so he wasn't alone, and he held up a lot better than DH or I did when we needed to stay up!
Agreed on both counts! I am too old and too financially stable to be tempted by the night pay. Heh.
@Karen A., What wonderful kids you've raised.
@JDinNM, Well, they're not perfect (as they themselves would tell you! ;)) but we are a pretty tight-knit group, and they are pretty cool individuals.
Sweet potato chili
Mashed potatoes, baked beans, garlic bread
KFC Bowls
Roasted potatoes, Kraft mac-n-cheese, brown sugar cinnamon carrots
Chicken fajitas
Random sandwiches and fruit - grilled cheese for the kids, toasted avocado/tomato/egg/cheese for husband, toast for me
We had:
- sandwiches and Cabbage Ramen salad
- Bean and rice burrito bowls
- riz gras (rice and fish dish) from a baby naming ceremony we attended
- Leaf sauce over rice
- À soup made from various leftovers
And that's all I can remember.
@Katy,
What is leaf sauce?
@Katy, Yes, what IS leaf sauce, and have you ever done a Meet the Reader? Very intriguing...
Between kristin@goingcountry's bull/elk dishes, A.Marie's Eat your Weeds suggestions, and your leaf sauce, you'd all win the award for excellent locavore cooking
Since I'm no longer 19, overnight has no appeal to me either! I hope you can get enough rest over the weekend to catch up.
Saturday: I watched my friend's 3 kids and she gave us money to get pizza, so we had Little Caesar's pizzas. Shoutout to you, Kristen - I had already started making pizza dough before I knew my friend was providing money for pizza, but from reading your blog I knew that I could freeze it. So for the first time ever, I froze my pizza dough. And it will be ready for another night. 🙂
Sunday: Steak, macaroni salad, broccoli with cheese, and strawberries. We had peach crisp and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Monday: Southwest chicken alfredo and grapes
Tuesday: Crockpot jambalaya (which my kids deemed "too spicy") and strawberries
Wednesday: We had pizza at church. We have Kids Camp this week and they did pizza for all of the volunteers and our kids.
Thursday: This was night 4 of Kids Camp and my motivation was gone... I had a salad, my kids had popcorn and grapes. I packed a PBJ, grapes, and trail mix for my husband (who has been going straight from work to church each night) and he had the last of the leftover steak and macaroni salad after the kids were in bed.
Friday: Family party at church - hot dogs! Hooray for another night of not cooking!
It will feel great to get this overnight shift out of the way. Good luck and happy napping.
WIS: Farmer's Market-$183 (includes seasonal food for preserving); Whole foods-$7; Milk delivery-$20.50; Hmart-$21; the star-$6; TGTG-$6; neighborhood-$5; Flashfood-$12 Total-$254.50
WWA: Sat- drawing a blank...as usual
Sun- Fathers Day dinner at my parents. Grilled chicken, zucchini, corn, and a lentil salad
Mon- Cheeeseburger salad
Tues- Supper club-This month we cooked from Jubilee-Toni Tipton-Martin. Our contribution was BBQ meatballs
Wed- Bertucci's salad, spinach dip, and prosciutto/onion pizza
Thurs- I went to see a show and headed to my parents for dinner beforehand. My uncle bought lobsters so we had that w/ steak tips and salad
Fri- not sure yet. Likely a pasta dish
Gaah, I hate overnights! Bless those people who works those, I am not one of them. I have had to pull two overnights since the new hospital opened, both times because I was on call. ): Extra money or not - dislike. My menus this week:
Monday - freezer clean-out. I was off and don't normally cook on Monday, so I served up leftovers from Sunday. (I was home for dinner on Sunday and fixed Dr. Martin's Mix which was one of my late Hubby's favorite things)
Tuesday - Curry Chicken Quinoa Bowl (seasoned chicken breast cubes, sweet potato, green bean, purple onion) This was merely OK, probably won't repeat it anytime soon.
Wednesday - Salmon and Crab patty, skillet potatoes, the rest of the green beans
Thursday - Spanish Chicken and Beans with brown rice. Another meh meal.
Friday - BUT! Mexican Pork for tacos (marinated pork, pico de gallo, monterrey jack cheese, lo carb tortillas), corn. This one I am looking forward to! Its also food prep day for my work meals.
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed
How cute is the kitty, omg
Happy Weekend - June is slipping by tooooo fast!
I worked night shift for many years as an RN. I was always a night owl and could never be in bed early enough to make getting up at 5 am enjoyable! The trick to being a good nightshifter is to get good sleep! In bed by 8:30 am, up at 4:30 pm, shower, eat, pack lunch, and back to work. Work your shifts in a row if possible, plan nothing for your work days. I used to drink one cup of coffee when I got up, and another at 1 am. No eating carbs all night, get some protein, fruit, veggies in! Keep your bedroom dark, cool, quiet. Leave the phone in another room.
It doesn’t sound glamorous, and it isn’t, but I got used to it. Do I miss it? NOPE! I’m still up late, but I can sleep as late as I want. Good luck, Kristen!
I'm so glad there are people like you out there, because I am most definitely the type to be happy getting up at 5 am!
@Brenda D, I'm with you - no issue sleeping during the day, noise or no noise, light or no light. Though I have been irked when work calls me a few hours after my night shift ended.
The *only* time I am up at oh-dark-thirty is when I work the election. Don't get much sleep the night before as I just cannot go to bed early and not much that night - too wired (and it has been much worse these past few primaries/elections).
Worked night shift for a year when first married - never got used to it, all I wanted to do was sleep. Worst time was 2-5 am.
Sunday: Still had granddaughters & it was Father's Day so cooked steak in crockpot, butter/garlic potatoes & broccoli. Ran oven long enough to bake angel food cake.
Really unsure about the rest of the week. Our eating schedule isn't normal since hubs started with PD symptoms. We had leftovers and since my stomach wasn't happy I at yogurt & bread with butter last night.
Wishing everyone a cooler, enjoyable weekend.
I'm a huge sleeper, and with lupus, my energy level starts dropping around 4:30 pm, and by 8 pm, I try to be in bed reading. I usually am awake until 10, but the overnight shift would be so, so hard for me! Good luck.
We had:
-Dinner out for DH's birthday
-Beef kebabs, Persian rice with tahdiq & yogurt sauce on Father's Day. DH made the food, and showed the teens a few tips on how to make the Persian food.
-We had leftover kebabs & rice another night
-Tacos (from the freezer) one night
-Fajitas (also from the freezer, because I'm firmly in a use it up/no cooking phase)
-We had orange chicken another night
Some of the above were served with caprese salads, because we have so much basil in the garden. Can't wait until the tomatoes are ripe.
As for tonight, we'll be eating at the airport. I have restaurant credits through my credit card. I hope there's a good salad somewhere. DH likely won't eat airport food, so I'll pack something for him. The teens will probably get burgers.
Ooof, Kristen, sorry about the overnight in a week when prednisone already was beating you up.
WIS: $74 and some change, mostly at Food Lion but also with a stop at Dollar Tree for applesauce and olives.
WWA: Roasted chicken, fruit salad, veggie burgers on toasted English muffins, protein shakes, Laughing Cow cheese on rye crackers, fresh veggies from the container garden. It's been too hot to eat a big meal or really do any cooking, so the food has been cold and ready to go all week.
I know, right? This was not ideal timing. But I will survive!
The novelty of an overnight shift may make it go faster than you expect. Hospitals are so different at night, what a great opportunity to see a new side of the place you will be working.
Friday: Steak bites and mushrooms over mashed potatoes.
Saturday: Dinner out for a birthday party – I picked the tuna poke bowl. I spent most of the day prepping food for Sunday so not cooking dinner was much needed.
Sunday: We hosted our dads for Father’s Day lunch – homemade pretzels and beer cheese dip, six different types of sausages, cheesy potatoes, onion pie, rhubarb strawberry crisp, chocolate chip cookies. For dinner we had Birria Tacos, they were delicious but I will try a new recipe next time because the five hours I spent cooking them on Saturday was not worth the 20 minutes it took to eat them.
Monday: Broccoli cheese soup with pretzel croutons. My family loved it but I can never make it again – I used the leftover mashed potatoes, leftover cheesy potatoes, leftover beer cheese dip, and the last of the broccoli, carrots, and chicken stock in the fridge.
Tuesday: Creamy Mushroom and Chicken Skillet over chickpea pasta.
Wednesday: Power Salad (spinach, chicken, feta, cranberries, avocado, almonds).
Thursday: White Pizza with Spinach and buffalo cauliflower. I ran out of white flour (how?) and had to make the dough with half white flour and half wheat flour. Since the dough was made with Greek yogurt this actually turned out great and not too heavy!
I hope it will go by fast! The floor I'm working on is not crazy busy, so I'm a little worried the hours will drag a bit. In the emergency department, not so much. lol
@Kristen,
Heads up....the full moon is tonight, so you may be surprised what you get 😉
Haha, that is true. I don't mind if we are busy, honestly!
Here’s a good plan for a random overnight shift:
- hydrate really well during the day, until you go to work.
- try to nap for 1-2 hours about 4 hours before you need to go in.
- do not eat dinner at your usual time. Just have a snack
- eat a protein plentiful meal about 1-2 hours before your start time
- pack a few snacks you will look forward to eating (ideally natural sugar, protein like a hard boiled egg, cheese, fruit)
- plan on bringing a caffeinated beverage (maybe iced or hot coffee) and drink it when you feel your most tired overnight)
You’ll do great!!!
Thank you for the tips!
Although I am an in bed by 10pm and back out by 5am person. I do enjoy a once in a while overnight shift. Try to step outside at 3am and just be. So exhilarating.
But then back to my normal schedule the next day.
All medical professionals who work night shift deserve respect and extra karma points. WWA:
Saturday - grilled smokies on buns, Caesar salad, chips
Sunday - Father’s Day special meal of grilled steak shish kabobs, roasted seasoned cauliflower, potato salad, homemade brownies with vanilla ice cream
Monday- leftovers
Tuesday - chili, sourdough bread from freezer
Wednesday - make your own subs
Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs
Friday - planning on grilled Italian sausages and ratatouille
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
WIS: 242.32 @Aldi plus several take out food type purchases made by, ahem, not me. 😉
WWA:
Fri: focaccia and fruit cups. I was still too tired to salad...
Sat: random leftovers: spaghetti topped with rice and beans and cheese, focaccia, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, crackers and cheese.
Sun: veggie burgers on brioche buns, cucumbers, tomatoes, California veggies.
Mon: cucumber spears, el quesadilla grande (a quesadilla bake using tortillas folded over the toppings and baked between two sheet pans), guacamole, salsa, Mexican street corn.
Tue: salad (lettuce, cucumber, carrots, zucchini, radishes, dressing), broccoli, Mac and cheese (from scratch), hotdogs on brioche buns.
Wed: turkey burgers topped with turkey bacon and Swiss cheese on brioche buns, leftover salad, mixed veggies, leftover Mac and cheese.
Thu: spaghetti and turkey meatballs, garlic toast, leftover salad, mixed veggies.
Tonight: assorted lefties and some sort of veg that I can microwave because I have a massage scheduled right before dinner time. Ah...
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Kristen, have been busy and haven’t had time to read all the comments in recent posts, but have you ever tried Technu? It is a liquid soap type product that I think neutralizes poison ivy — if you wash soon after exposure, it is supposed to help tremendously. Just a thought…
Yes! I have some now, for the next time I think I might be exposed. I was too late this time but at least I am prepared for next time.
One of my quick and easy meals is cottage cheese with peaches stirred in with a side of ginger snaps. The ginger snaps are to fight nausea caused by one of my meds so I eat them at every meal.
I love cottage cheese and peaches!
What is red pesto? I'm not familiar with that sauce. Your pasta does look delicious though!!
They sell it at Aldi, and I think the base is sun-dried tomatoes!
Oh dear, be careful, since you haven't been sleeping well to begin with. Especially driving home after that night shift, the lack of sleep is a dangerous situation.
They pay more for night shifts, but it really messes with your circadian rhythm. I've watched my young, healthy daughter go through this through the years of her residency, and it always makes her miserable (and grumpy!). She had to cover windows in her bedroom and just taped foil on all of them so she had a permanent black out room, that helped some. Part of it is that in residency the schedule changes all the time, sometimes days, sometimes nights, all 12 + hour shifts, occasionally 24 hours on call, and she got a measly 2 days to switch from one to the other.
When you get out in the nursing world, doing nights is a good way to get your foot in the door (especially OB) because that's the hardest shift to staff. But switch to days as soon as you possibly can. There are some people who really thrive at night, but you seem to be a "morning person" and it's unlikely you will feel like you are thriving on that shift.
I am so so thankful that my drive home is only 10 minutes! If I had a boring hour-long drive, I would be nervous about my ability to stay awake. But ten minutes, I can do.
And yes, I am going to do my darndest to avoid night shifts as much as possible. Since I do have my blog to help me pay the bills, I can afford to be a little picky about the jobs I take, so I am hopeful that I can skip the night shift thing. We shall see!
Late today as we were camping with no cell reception (ultimate digital minimalism experience, it was a nice break)
Saturday - I hosted some friends for brunch, they stayed most of the day and we were munching on the brunch food throughout the day so wasn’t super hungry at dinner. I made some chicken nuggets and steamed carrots for the kids.
Sunday - Father’s Day, since we didn’t have our usual takeout on Saturday, I figured we’d have it this night and my husband could choose something he’d been wanting. We went to a movie as his chosen Father’s Day activity and got out at about 5:30 and were near a multitude of takeout options. He said he wasn’t hungry so we ended up just going home, but then we got home and he immediately put a bagel in the toaster and grabbed a bag of chips and a drink. I sort of lost it haha Not so much not wanting takeout but not communicating what he wanted when the remaining 3 of us were waiting on him for dinner. So I made a frozen pizza for the kids and had leftover veggie pot pie. A good day up until that point at least!
Monday - black bean tacos, sautéed mushrooms, leftover Spanish rice from freezer, (I had my beans and toppings over a sweet potato, rather than a taco)
Tuesday - beach picnic night, pb&j with fruits and veggies for the kids, leftover black beans served over red potatoes. I cooked the potatoes using Kristin’s method for the first time, so fast and so delicious! Will definitely be doing that more!
Wednesday - first night of camping, we roasted hot dogs over the fire and had cut up fruits and veggies and s’mores for dessert
Thursday - second night camping, we had pasta with red sauce, more cut up fruits and veggies, and more s’mores
Friday - home from camping, probably will make Swedish meatballs for dinner
WIA
Saturday - at a wedding in vermont for dinner. We stayed at an air bnb at an orchard and had all you can pick cherries for dessert
Sunday - we had a Father’s Day bbq at the bride and grooms house for family. We all just did leftover pizza and such for dinner
Monday - we traveled home from Vermont back to Virginia so it was mostly road food. On the way up, we dutifully packed food but it’s tougher on the way home
Tuesday - tilapia with rice and broccoli
Wednesday - rotisserie chicken with potatoes and Brussel sprouts
Thursday - chicken salad sandwiches, bagged salad, veg charcuterie
Friday - we had tikka masala tofu, couscous, roasted veg, and naan
Given it being a travel week, I am happy we rallied a good menu for the end of the week
WIS: $62 at Aldi.
WIA: Like many of you, I haven't wanted to cook much this week. I did make a batch of pasta sauce, though. I had that with gluten free pasta and hot dogs several nights in a row. Last night I had reheated frozen chicken and broccoli. Tonight it was a quesadilla with pinto beans. I tried Aldi's brand of dairy free mozzarrella for the first time and it was surprisingly good.
Friday - tilapia and black beans/rice/mushroom/red pepper combo
Saturday - the usual steak for me/salmon for better half
Sunday - Mexican dine out
Monday - leftover Mexican - day one (Sunday) of the heat dome we didn't turn on the A/C but Monday we did.
Tuesday - stuffed pork chop and potatoes
Wednesday - ricotta/spinach ravioli and sauce - while the pasta was good, I do not do well without any protein at dinner.
Thursday - turkey tender
Friday - burgers, potato salad, and leftover corn from the freezer.
I spent but on non-edibles (paper et al supplies/cat litter). Better half spent around $315 on edibles - we used up what we had before we went on vacation so restocking time.
I like the night shift - even when my planned afternoon nap gets interrupted by a certain person who *always* needs something out of the freezer when said certain person is done napping (much earlier than me).
But I loved working 3rd shift. Some of us are just night owls.
I got a new cookbook called Souped Up and have been making the most of it. It’s Winter here in Melbourne, Australia which makes it perfect soup weather. Soups this week have been:
* cauliflower and coconut soup with toasted pumpkin seeds
*carrot and fennel soup with nigella seeds
*beetroot, parsnip and horseradish soup topped with edamame beans.
All served with a slice of toasted sourdough of course.
With 5 lbs of chicken, we had baked chicken, parmesan noodles, and peas. With leftover chicken, taco chicken for Kyle and a huge kettle of chicken noodle soup for us. Soup for 3 meals. Hamburgers on toasted bread for a meal. We had pork under broiler, freezer corn, and seasoned rice. A meal of rice and chow mein.
Lots of strawberries we picked and raw carrots.
You just have to learn how to manage the night shifts.....I am a very good sleeper and have a good fitness/food/sleep routine that allows me to manage night shifts without too much lost time!
It sounds terrible but is really not that awful!
I hope that your training shift went well.....but strange that it was a night shift!